|
Mount St. Helens
|
|
 |
The president and congress made the 110,000
acre monument for research, recreation, and education after it erupted.
The mountain was 9,677 feet before the eruption and 8,364 feet afterward.
The base of the volcano is six miles. Mount St. Helens is forty thousand
years old, which is young for a volcano. Now days, the volcano just has
a huge amount of steam coming out. |
| The volcano erupted on May 18, 1980 on a
Sunday morning. The eruption lasted about nine hours. It was caused by
a 5.1 earthquake underneath the mountain. Ash fell over eastern Washington
and areas up to three hundred miles away from the mountain. Some ash became
an ash cloud, circled the earth for 15 days, and might stay in the atmosphere
for many years. Fifty-seven people were killed by the monstrous volcano. |
 |
 |
The volcano was named after the British diplomat, Alleyne Fitzerbert. Her title was Baron St. Helens. She lived from 1753 to 1839. |
| To the Pacific Northwest Native Americans
the mountain is know as Louwala-Clough or Loo-Wit Lat-kla which means
smoking mountain and fire mountain. The Indian legend for Mount St. Helens
is that a female spirit called St. Helens tried to make peace between
two sons of the great spirit that fought over her. Mount Adam and Mount
Hood were the two sons. They through fiery rocks at each other, which
made earthquakes. The fight destroyed the Bridge of the gods that crossed
the Columbia River. |
 |